Arsenal Thread

[Molo316]

I'd say tactics are more important. Sure, you can buy a player or two, but the right tactician can do wonders with a team. I always remember that Jose Mourinho only spent like £6M when his Porto side won the Champions League.
I hate it when we constantly try to cross the ball in and then it goes straight to the opposition. We've done it so much in the past and it happened again so bloody much the other night. Remember the days when we could outplay anyone through the middle? Sure, we need skilful players for that, but I'd argue that we have quite a few of them already - Carzorla, Wilshere, Arteta, even Chamberlain! I'd reckon they need to know a different way to set themselves up and how to progress up and through the field.

[Nitey]

Apparently Ramsey to sign a contract extension soon.

He must play like Kaka in his Milan days, in training or something. We have enough midfielders as it is.

[The Boy From School]

Why can't we play Reading every weekend?

I'm happy for the win but Reading is awful.

I liked Theo up front but I'm not sold. He's already better than Gervinho in that regard though.

Santi and Jack are still not completely in sync but I liked what I saw from them yesterday.

On to Wigan!

[Nitey]

Yeah that was just a fun game to watch. Conceding two sloppy goals was to be expected but our attacking was great. Hopefully we can build on this

Really happy Jack is signing a long term deal! He was fantastic, as were most the others

[The Boy From School]

[Nitey]

"behind the scenes"

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=2&theater

Good news all round. Arsene looks pleased . Only one missing is Theo

--



LoL

[DINAMO788]

maaaaaaaaaaan I want him to resign soooo badly! no llorente, no huntelaar, all i want is Theo!
and a DM to replace arteta.

[Nitey]

That Arsene picture cracks me up everytime I see it .

Yea Dinamo, I'd much rather just keep ahold of Theo. Huntelaar has signed again with Schalke so he's out the picture. I think Llorente would be a good signing but Theo needs to sign.

It's not like he's worldlcass the way Rvp, cesc etc were when they left but it's the principle that you get no fucking where if your good to great players keep leaving.

However I can understand the reluctancy from the board as a precendent will be set that players at the level of Walcott 'should' be paid 100k (at ArsenalFC) and I can see why they are hesitant in giving that the green light.

[DINAMO788]

That Arsene picture cracks me up everytime I see it .

Yea Dinamo, I'd much rather just keep ahold of Theo. Huntelaar has signed again with Schalke so he's out the picture. I think Llorente would be a good signing but Theo needs to sign.

It's not like he's worldlcass the way Rvp, cesc etc were when they left but it's the principle that you get no fucking where if your good to great players keep leaving.

However I can understand the reluctancy from the board as a precendent will be set that players at the level of Walcott 'should' be paid 100k (at ArsenalFC) and I can see why they are hesitant in giving that the green light.

I can understand it to but honestly though.....fuccccckkkkkkkk that. The alternative of losing walcott over the worry of setting a precedent of playing one guy a little too much its just crazy. Its not worth it in any sense. Plus, he's close enough to being worth 100k. I top him out at 85k, but thats just me. hopefully they can agree on 90. I think Podolski is getting 110k. We need to stop this bleeding out of good players. We can deal with agents demanding more in the future when it happens. but the potential for agents to ask for me isn't worth hurting the team by losing a valuable scorer like walcott. Plus our Board for all they get compensated should be able to handle annoying agents.

[Nitey]

Agreed.

Just trying to think of why things haven't progressed yet, that's all. Must be some pressure on him with all his mates signing today. It's not like he's much older than any of them, Theo is only 23. Not like time is running out for him to win things as it was for RvP .

I hope both parties can come to an agreement. However, I do not believe Arsenal side will budge from their current offer. I don't see why they would. They've let players much better than Theo go in the past over a few thousand pounds disagreement (Ashley Cole comes to mind), and they will continue to do it ;/

It seems like it's upto Walcott's corner to accept AFC terms rather than the other way around.

Having said all that, again, I hope they come to an agreement

[admartian]

Awesome.

Always like it when teams build from their own talent (Draft, farming system, etc).

[The Boy From School]

Gotta keep dat British core.

[Nitey]

I only just noticed Walcott photoshopped into the picture . Slow as hell

[admartian]

I only just noticed Walcott photoshopped into the picture . Slow as hell

They all looked photoshopped to me.

[Nitey]

Here's the team Christmas photo:



Koscielny looks hilarious.
Vermaelan looks scary.

Walcott all the way on the edge of the shot

Edit:

Video of that shoot -

http://www.arsenal.com/membership/me...christmas-2012

Untrimmed photo (w/ Arshavin) -

[Molo316]

We have Bayern Munich in February.

I really hope that Real Madrid and Man Utd isn't on the same day as our game!

[Nitey]

Yeah must watch games, both of them. Barca and Milan is a pretty good tie as well even if Milan are a shadow of their former selves.

We could have drawn worse than Bayern, not by much , but I was convinced we were gonna get one of the Spanish giants. A lot can change in 2 months so hopefully we're going into these games in a really strong position. Poldi to score against his former team xD

[The Boy From School]

[The Boy From School]

[Molo316]

Yeah must watch games, both of them. Barca and Milan is a pretty good tie as well even if Milan are a shadow of their former selves.

We could have drawn worse than Bayern, not by much , but I was convinced we were gonna get one of the Spanish giants. A lot can change in 2 months so hopefully we're going into these games in a really strong position. Poldi to score against his former team xD

Aye. I was convinced they were going to draw us against Barca, just to add insult to injury with our overall poor form.
I saw a news report on a French news channel last night and Song was hoping for the match too, so it would have pleased him as we'll as others who wish to see us fail.

But yes, I think this will be an extremely difficult set of matches, and although it's always sad to write off your own team, I think it'll be something near of a miracle for us to go past Bayern.

[DINAMO788]

grow up, dude.

[The Boy From School]

grow up, dude.

I don't think he will read your comment.

[Nitey]

Shite performance tbf. I do appreciate grinding out a win however, after seeing us lose or draw from winnable positions in the past.

Not sure what to make of the performance though. Martinez got it spot on, overloading the midfield with 6 lol, seemed to do enough to disrupt us.

They could have easily been given a pen at the end with the handball shout. The arms were within the body but I've seen them given before.

All the top teams have to win with crap performances now and then, and with that being the 3rd straight win I can't really complain. I guess I just wanted to see a continuation of dominance and pressing we showed against Reading.

For all our troubles we're still in the scrap for 3rd/4th quite comfortably atm. Need some impetus from the January window like we got from King Henry's return last year:

Such an brilliant video Makes me all emotional

[Nitey]

So with Sturridge set to sign for Liverpool I guess that rules out the possibility of them also going for Walcott, so that leaves City, Utd and Chelsea - among clubs that are capable of offering him a hench contract.

Utd and City don't really need him, which leaves Chelsea as they're about to lose Sturridge. But why would they buy a forward such as Theo when they could easily go out and buy the likes of Cavani, or even Falcao?

Maybe he's off to Sp*rs

- It makes sense for him to just sign the contract. Hurry up

Edit:

Arshavin to Reading, 4m? :-

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/...m-reading-move



I know he hasn't contributed much at all over the past couple seasons but I love this guy. In only 4 years he's provided so many truly golden moments for us. Even just off the bench, like that cross to Henry earlier this year to win it at Sunderland, or that cross earlier this season for Giroud to cross in. One of the only proper world class talents we have left. It's a shame his game dropped via lack of motivation or whatever it may have been

If only Wenger played him in the front of a midfield 3 more...I think we could have seen even more from this guy

(Just a rumour I know, but the writing is on the wall. If not Jan then he's off in Summer regardless)

[Nitey]

Earlier today



Wenger looks happy